Café relocates to Newport square

Visitors at Newport Community Day on Oct. 7 are
invited to be the first to express an opinion on Espresso Yourself’s
new line of home-baked, gourmet and vegan bakery items prepared by
bakery chef Verna Smith of southern York County. Smith also is the
bakery chef for the Inn at Turkey Hill in Bloomsburg.

While not quite ready to offer a complete
menu, Espresso Yourself will be serving its popular soups and coffees on
Community Day.

For those unfamiliar with the cafe, the
menu consists of organic, vegan and vegetarian options. Organic foods
are free of such things as pesticides, artificial fertilizers,
antibiotics, growth hormones and food additives. People opting for a
vegetarian lifestyle avoid meat in their diets and may or may not eat
products derived from animals such as eggs and dairy.

A vegan diet is one that excludes all
products derived from animals. A vegan lifestyle is most often chosen
for either health reasons or to promote animal rights.

Two and half years after starting her
business in Newport, owner and main chef Cheryl Miller closed the doors
at her former location to relocate in the town square. Her regular
customers are excited and eager to get the cafe back up and running.

“It’s a nice place to read and relax and
drink coffee,” said Joe Frank of Newport. “I’ve been having withdrawal
symptoms ever since they closed the old place.”

Frank, like many of the cafe’s customers,
has pitched in to help speed the opening process by volunteering to
pack, unpack, paint, assemble shelving units, wash dishes and repot
plants.

“It is unusual for a business to have so
many of their customers investing in them by volunteering their time,”
said Nancy Firestone. “It’s just been wonderful.”

Firestone first met Miller when she was
trying to figure out how to eat on a special diet she follows for health
reasons. When she found the cafe, Miller consulted with her and helped
her to prepare foods for her diet and even taught her how she could eat
out. Their common interest in living a healthy lifestyle has led to a
close friendship. Firestone feels she has a vested interest in the
cafe’s success and volunteers her time and marketing and management
skills to the business.

Miller, a Perry County resident,
previously commuted to Harrisburg to operate Miller Springs Natural
Things, a business where she sold organic products at the Broad Street
Market. It was there that she met Marshall Galinsky, founder of the
Green Street Vegetarian Club. The club includes news about the cafe in
its newsletter. To learn more about the club, readers may visit the Web
at http://greenstreetvc.com/.

The idea for Espresso Yourself came from
Miller’s desire to get out of the city and to establish a place where
people commuting to work in the city could stop, select a nutritional
dinner, and take it home to feed their family.

The cafe’s menu evolved into one of the
most extensive of its kind in the area, making the spot popular among
local customers, as well as those who live in Harrisburg, Mifflintown
and State College.

“We are a hub or gathering place for
talking and sharing ideas — this is part of our essence,” said
Firestone. “We deliberately chose a location with an open room where
people could support that dynamic.”

When the cafe reopens, new and expanded
features will include a breakfast menu, catering services, Internet
service, workshops and a sidewalk cafe.

“Many of our customers have been asking us to serve breakfast and to offer Internet service,” said Firestone.

Miller has hired a breakfast chef and has
formed a partnership with pa.net to provide wireless Internet service to
cafe customers. It will be the first Internet cafe in Perry County. One
Internet station will be available for public use and customers are
welcome to bring their own laptops.

“The Internet service will be free and is part of the whole experience we are trying to create,” said Firestone.

Workshop topics may include indoor air quality, using healthy cleaning products, cooking lessons and dietary needs.

Requests for catering services have
increased and include weddings, business meetings, baptisms, tea parties
and holiday parties.

“We are already taking bookings for the holidays,” said Firestone.

According to Firestone, the cafe is often a
gathering place for artists. Local artist Liz Sufrin of Newport
presently is taking photographs of the cafe’s local growers and
suppliers. The photos will be framed by Perry County artist John Allison
of Riverside Picture Framing in Newport. He will form a collage using
Sufrin’s photos and photos of the cafe’s food items that contain the
supplier’s products. The collage will be on display inside the cafe.

“Espresso Yourself is a name that was
chosen for the coffees that would be served, but it also suits those who
come here to express themselves through poetry readings, artwork, music
and dance,” said Firestone.

The cafe’s barista has been trained at the
coffee school offered by Green Mountain Coffee Roasters of Vermont. All
sales of brewed coffee sold on Oct. 7 will be donated to the Newport
Lion’s Club which holds its monthly meetings at the cafe.

Look for their new sign made by artist
Ralph Rathmell of Duncannon who not only cut the tree that supplied the
wood for the sign, he carved, sandblasted and chose colors that would
reflect well in natural lighting. His artwork also will be displayed in
the cafe.

While Newport Community Day will offer
customers a small sampling of what is on the menu, the cafe’s official
grand opening will be held in November

You can Espresso Yourself during the
cafe’s new hours, Tuesday through Friday from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. and
Saturday from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. The cafe will be closed Sunday and
Monday.